We were biiiiig Friends fans in our house when my two were growing up – never missed an episode, still watch them back now – the kids can quote lines from dozens of shows featuring Chandler Bing, Rachel, Monica, Joey, Phoebe and Ross. So the chance to see Matthew Perry in the theatre in the West End was too good to miss! Sis treated me for Christmas and we went to see ‘The End of Longing’ at the weekend. He wrote it himself too, and it’s very well done.

OMG I loved it. It was a really clever play, dealing with two parallel relationships and each one of the four performers shone. I laughed, cried, (and not at the expected bits either) and came out feeling satisfied. I’d definitely see it again. A good 9 out of ten from me. Thank goodness I ignore some critics or I’d have missed a superb theatre experience – which was packed by the way. Go if you can. Makes me remember why I love plays, and makes me keen to see more. Here’s Matthew Perry explaining about his role in Friends. Can YOU guess the trivia questions?

Watch – Dad’s Army the Movie – so as promised I popped along to the Odeon to watch this modern day homage to one of the most enduring of all sitcoms ever. Jimmy Perry and David Croft always said that the way to make a TV show not date was to already set it in the past, so this trip back to the 1940s was delightful. I loved the tributes to the main characters – although Bill Nighy was outstandingly ‘Bill’ rather than Wilson, Toby Jones’s Mainwaring was played true to type and the ensemble contributed to a delightful ‘jolly jape.’ It wasn’t more than that but it was enjoyable. If you loved the original – still playing to this day! – you’ll enjoy this, I’m sure. I gave it 8 out of ten.

ROLAND THE BROKEN DOG CAPTURES OUR HEARTS

Poooor little pup. Six month old Roland, a terrier cross, was taken into one of our lovely Facebooker’s vets surgery with two broken legs. They weren’t just broken they were sheared in half. Yuk. An unbelievable X-ray and a sorry photo of a pog in pain galvanised everyone into action and within four days we’d raised the minimum amount needed for this abandoned pup to be operated on and his recovery afterwards was documented on my Facebook group Back to You. See the full story and the X-ray pics on my newsletter on my website debbieflint.com – click here to access it, and a summary of all my groups and other news.

The little boy was in pain but managed to wag his little tail when he saw the two nurses who had accompanied him from Northampton down to the specialist in Portsmouth. They took him home and watched over him and will continue to see him well enough to find a forever home. Isn’t it amazing what people are capable of? And I’m so proud of our gang – not only helping out a lovely Facebooker but also raising enough money for some of the after-care too. Although Lorri says he faces six weeks’ care and a bit of a long path to recovery before they can find him a home. Bless his little heart. *Sigh* Full update on the link above. More doggy stuff below!

SNIPPETS

Doggy Pup-date 1 So this will be the reason why Patch the 15 year old flabrador doesn’t sleep in my bedroom! Bless her…

Doggy Pup-date 2 I’m so excited to be seeing Derek the Medical Detection Dogs Trainee whom I named, after raising funds for the charity for which I’m an ambassador. He will be at my next visit to the MDD HQ near Milton Keynes and I’m going again on Tuesday with a few more VIPs. More next week. For now, here’s his Oxford TV debut – what a lovely look at the little lad and how he’s progressing! I feel like a proud auntie! Lol.

Sniff And how much prouder am I? Here’s their latest edition of MDD newsletter called ‘Sniff’ – I got a full page feature about why I joined! Also there’s a prospectus about how much fundraising they need to do in order to achieve their three year plan. Email me info@debbieflint.com if you would like to receive one, if maybe you can contribute to in some way to fundraising.

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Cool! If you’d like to find out more about what they do and maybe kindly help by supporting a cancer detection dog who helps with early prostate cancer detection, go here – great video explaining it. Next week I hope to have made a new one myself so you can see the latest.

Beautiful Bouquet from my daughter for looking after their pogs on Valentine’s Day – more about it on my blog here last weekend, do go watch the funny video! Had a nice time in the end although rain stopped play somewhat and I spent tons of time washing muddy paws – and that was just mine! Haha! Hope you had a good one whatever you did.

Emus Save the Day Had a lovely dog walk later in the week in some elusive sunshine – and was in such a rush to catch some rays I forgot to change into my wellies! Thank goodness I was wearing my waterproof Emus! Dried the mud off, gave them a good brush and a final rinse and looked fine! Toasty warm feet too! Not that I’ll do it deliberately but all I can say is phew! If you’d like to get some, how about these?

Philip Kingsley shockers Bless Sinead and Kirsty before our sell out Philip Kingsley show – good for them! Still available just in case you have fine hair that needs volume, is the shampoo, conditioner and maximiser spray set which flew out on our show – got lots though so hopefully you can get yours here and also see the video we did during the show!

Read it Write It Sell It This week I began a new book by Jill Mansell, and reported on an article claiming to know why writers are the worst kind of procrastinators – and I think they’ve rumbled me! Lol! As regulars will know, my novels are currently published online and in bookshops via my publisher Choc Lit and they are awaiting the follow up to Take a Chance on Me… Well don’t tell anyone but the whole house is often spotless before I finally get down to writing the final bits of my novel! The deadline to submit it to them is end Feb though so fingers crossed! Read about it all on RiWiSi blog here. NEXT WEEK – a chance to win both my latest books!

How our microbes make us who we are – TED Talk with Rob Knight – OMG amazing science of nutrition for revolutionary reasons that … er … are like the ones from hundreds of years ago. Who knew? I promised you one of these educational videos each week, and this is a corker. Free video which could change the way you think about your diet…

Funny poem about the difficulties of learning English

If it was YOUR second language, how would you fare? I remember being relatively happy when learning German due to the seemingly more straight forward pronunciations. If you weren’t a native how would you deal with this one? Listen to an extract now.

GUT REACTION Health in the news again this week. Funny when you begin looking out for things you tend to notice them everywhere. I wrote on my Back to You blog here about a video I’ve been fascinated by – free to watch – about the miracle of treating the gut right. It’s called Gut Reaction, part one here and part two here. Do watch it – I’d love to know your thoughts and if it affects you the same way it did me – I’ve been telling everyone about it! Plus on my B2U blog, what’s the most sugary cereal? You might be surprised. And more fab testimonials about how my blogs and shows and groups are helping people left, right and centre. Makes me very proud. Here’s one from my Till the Fat Lady Slims group on Facebook.

Wendy K –

‘Right …imagine me cartwheeling … haha .. finally after four weeks wrestling with the sugar demon …I finally feel human again…hot sweats, sleeplessness, itchy, sad…to name a few …I am now coming to terms with a huge change of diet and the huge change in my wellbeing .. I feel like blinkers have been taken off … things taste strange… I am still only a tiny way down the road but could never seem to get anywhere before … I have tried so hard to just give my body good nourishing food … almonds, spinach and avacado are my new best friends xx ps I also kicked caffeine as well … I found that so easy ???? xxx pps… I have weighed myself today … 7 llbs since I started freedom eating … very pleased xxx’

Chats So we had a Q&A webchat with Nicola from NIOD too, one of the stand-out brands from Beauty Bash, and when you read the chat with the guest Nicola you can see why. And can we really influence what happens around us? A top scientist thinks so. Changes who we blame for our lives, then, don’t you think? And although she doesn’t ‘do’ Facebook personally, you can join myself and lovely Caroline from Liz Earle for the very first Liz Earle Q&A when she comes to my house on Monday 29th for the 8pm chat. More info on my Back to You blog on my website here.

Bloopers – three for you this week! OK so I couldn’t help it, I’d been off work for 8 days and was chomping at the bit… can you tell?!

Then on the same night we had a little giggle when it came to Justine Balmer’s clever identity removers, which are here, by the way if you’d like to get some too. We thought of another reason to use them, as you’ll see here…

Finally this is what happens if you give me a doorbell and ask me to play make believe… serve Kenny right! Hehe!

Sunday – Liz Earle Today’s Special Value –Remember to visit my website on Monday 8pm with for a chat with Caroline from my house and see Will Gowing’s preview below!

Sunday night midnight – join me for the launch of the new Kim & Co Embroidered Lace ¾ sleeve top and sleeveless top set. It ends early though so get yours soon after launch!

Plus a Yong Kim one-show-only type bargain Tuesday 9pm, AND fab south western turquoise jewellery range Nizhoni returns with Charlie on Wednesday at 9pm with designs like this pretty one; a fab juicer from Jason Vale for under £120 – he’s back for a Today’s Special Value on Thursday; plus Judith Williams anti-ageing skincare is Wednesday’s Today’s Special Value!

Go to my own website for full info about my novel writing, my Read it Write it Sell it blog and my Back to You show blog and well-being info, plus ‘Till the Fat Lady Slims’ weight loss book and also my charity for which I’m delighted to be an ambassador, Medical Detection Dogs, just go via my website, www.debbieflint.com

OR do leave me a comment below – just state your email address (not shown), a name, and comment!